"Well, he wasn't doing a very good job."
White House Down is a better movie than Olympus Has Fallen, but it is not without its problems. Indeed, the ultimate White House siege movie would fall somewhere between the two, if it could have Roland Emmerich's storytelling sensibility and the consistently gritty approach of Olympus. Nevertheless, White House Down is an utterly preposterous and yet very entertaining ride with what is an obvious Die Hard scenario (which would have been perfect for McClane and his granddaughter). Channing Tatum is as committed and watchable as ever - see him wield a toaster with menace - especially in the (generally strong) action scenes, and James Woods and Maggie Gyllenhaal do pleasing work. It is good to see Emmerich applying his usual well-controlled bombast to a rather straight actioner to good effect. However, there is a significant lack of consistency of tone, which switches dramatically and unjustifiably in an instant, and there is a lot of wry and very funny humour which frequently undermines tension and dramatic weight. (It can, however, boast one of the most hilarious lines of recent times delivered brilliantly - wait for Donnie The Tour Guide 'clocking' a bad guy). That such a daft movie can almost recover from jumping the shark (the car chase on the White House lawn) as the stakes keep getting raised is to its credit, but as a piece of popcorn entertainment White House Down passes a couple of hours well.
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